This invention teaches to use artificial snow to suppress moisture rising from warm surface water into storm clouds that are capable of producing tropical cyclones, aided if desired by the use of subsurface water to lower the temperature of surface water below the temperature that favors the production of tropical cyclones. Embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the drawings that accompany this application and the description of those drawings that follows. Ships that facilitate the use, maintenance and uninterrupted operation of snow-making and water delivery equipment under storm-at-sea conditions are disclosed. Deployment schemes for using multiple ships under local or remote control are also disclosed.
This invention responds to a long-felt want that is arguably the longest such want in recent history. The east coast of Florida is littered with Spanish ships bound for Spain loaded with treasures stolen from the native inhabitants of Central and South America, that never made it; wooden ships driven by sail were no match for the hurricanes they encountered. To this day that situation has not improved; indeed it has gotten worse with increased population, and more recently oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The losses of life and property only get greater with each severe hurricane, and severe hurricanes are increasing in frequency. Yet, in spite of many attempts to conquer the hurricanes, the results have been consistent failure. Many reasons have been advanced for the failures, principal among them the vastness of these storms, and the great cost of attacking them. This application proposes a solution that can be executed using known technologies realized in available components and a novel method of operation that maximizes the opportunity to succeed.
A tropical cyclone's energy source is the release of the heat of condensation from water vapor condensing, with solar heating being the initial source for evaporation. Tropical cyclones form when the energy released by the condensation of moisture in rising air causes a positive feedback loop over warm ocean waters. The present invention provides a process for slowing, hopefully breaking, that loop more efficiently than has heretofore been known. It is a general property of the positive feedback loop that it will increase in strength until some external force appears to slow it or stop it. A common example is the audio amplifier system which will break into a loud scream if the output device (loudspeaker) can communicate with the input device (microphone); simply putting a hand over the microphone stops it cold. This property has been recognized in tropical cyclones. Condensation leads to higher wind speeds, as a tiny fraction of the released energy is converted to mechanical energy. The faster winds and lower pressure associated with them in turn cause increased surface evaporation and thus even more condensation. Much of the released energy drives updrafts that increase the height of the storm clouds, speeding up condensation. This positive feedback loop, called the wind-induced heat exchange, continues for as long as conditions are favorable for tropical cyclone development.
Project “Storm Fury” is widely reported as the last (1960-70, approx.) government attempt to modify hurricanes. The process used was to seed selected storms with silver iodide, from the air. It was, in Applicant's terms, a “batch” process. In one attempt the winds of Hurricane Debbie are reported to have dropped as much as 30 percent, but then regained their strength after each of two seeding forays. That frustrating defect remained virtually unaddressed for the better part of half a century, until Applicant's parent application.
It is another property of the “eye” that it is an area of comparatively light winds and fair weather, found at the center of a severe tropical cyclone. The Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) has issued a bulletin titled “FACTS ABOUT THE EYE OF A HURRICANE.” Its first three sentences are: “The ‘eye’ is a roughly circular area of comparatively light winds and fair weather found at the center of a severe tropical cyclone. Although the winds are calm at the axis of rotation, strong winds may extend well into the eye. There is little or no precipitation and sometimes blue sky or stars can be seen.”